Samuel Rodriguez recently sat down with Charisma magazine to discuss this weekend's America for Jesus 2012 event in Philadelphia. For those who don't know, it's being spearheaded by Anne Gimenez, the widow of the guy who was behind the infamous "Washington For Jesus" rally in 1980, John Gimenez. Rodriguez has very close ties to the New Apostolic Reformation--in fact, he is a former board member of the Oak Initiative, an NAR-tilted think tank run by so-called prophet Rick Joyner (based just south of me in Fort Mill, South Carolina--gag). America for Jesus' leadership team is chock full of NAR bigshots--including Cindy Jacobs, Lou Engle, Ron Luce, Harry Jackson and Jim Garlow.

Rodriguez makes no bones about what he wants to see this rally accomplish--to alter the outcome of the presidential election.

I believe that God has a purpose for this rally. I believe it will serve as an ignition point for the church to really light up. There's an election coming up in November. There are decisions that a Christian has to make. I hope this rally will engage the Spirit of God in each and every Christian to go beyond political ideology and to start holding Biblical worldview and go biblical about it. And I hope the church understands that the only thing that can save America in the end is not the donkey or the elephant but the agenda of the land. But we need to act according to that agenda in the name of Jesus.

Anyone who has followed these dominionists knows exactly what Rodriguez means by "going biblical"--taking over the the seven forces that shape our culture (business, government, media, entertainment, education, family and religion) in order to "reclaim" them for God. Seen in this light, Rodriguez' vision perfectly dovetails with a piece Charisma published earlier this year by Jackson in which he called for Christians to form a "fifth column" in order to help take back the country.

Earlier, Rodriguez claimed this rally is necessary to wake up a church that has gone "lukewarm" for too long.

We have never spiritually been down the road we find ourselves in as a nation. From abortion on demand to the diluting of the basic definition of marriage to the government requiring religious organizations to offer contraception and abortion services via the HHS Mandate to even a political party extracting any mention of God from the platform, we have never been down this road before. Never ever, ever have we been down this road before.

In my opinion, our No. 1 issue is not the economy or the economic malaise. Our issues are moral relativism, spiritual apathy, cultural decadence and a lukewarm church. And the No. 1 most serious problem we have in America is a lukewarm church. The objective of the America For Jesus Rally is to revitalize, to ignite a fire in the American Bible-believing church so the church will stand up for righteousness and justice in the name of Jesus. That's the objective.

For those who don't know, a common verse fundies--especially fundicostals--use to stir up their followers is Revelation 3:16--"So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." In essence, Rodriguez is saying that those who don't involve themselves in socially conservative causes might be putting their salvation at risk. I heard similar sentiments expressed when I got suckered into a dominionist-influenced campus ministry in my freshman year at Carolina. One of my "sisters" in there told me, in so many words, that if I didn't turn from a liberal Democrat into a Christian Coalition Republican, I was at risk for getting left behind. So there you have it. The self-described mouthpiece of the charismatic movement is giving succor to the closest thing to out-and-out fascism this country has seen in a long time. And to this reality-based charismatic Christian, it's freaking scary. But don't take my word for it--watch it for yourself starting at 7 pm Eastern here.

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